Etobicoke North Councillor Doug Ford said he is committed to meeting with Griffin Centre staff to “work with them” after he said at a community meeting last Thursday night the non-profit mental health agency’s new youth residence has “ruined the community”.

“Absolutely, I want to work with them,” Ford said in an interview Wednesday. “I want to sit down with them. Hopefully, we can come up with a resolution. My office will be in touch with the Griffin Centre in the next day or two to set up a meeting.”

Ford has faced a firestorm of controversy since The Guardian reported on last week’s raucous and heated public meeting during which many angry and anxious residents, and Ford, told Griffin Centre staff they were not welcome in the north Etobicoke residential community.

In mid-March, the non-profit, multiservice mental health agency opened a residential home and services with 24-hour care to three youth ages 12 to 16 with developmental disabilities, mental health challenges and autism on Jeffcoat Drive in the Kipling Avenue and West Humber Boulevard area in Ford’s ward.

On Wednesday, Ford laid blame for the Griffin Centre’s move into the community on the Ontario Liberal government.

The government closed the Thistletown Regional Centre where the Griffin Centre youth, and many others, had lived.

Thistletown Regional Centre had been a provincial government-operated children’s mental health centre with specialized services and community supports for children, youth and families with complex mental health, behavioural or developmental challenges.

Some 60 angry and anxious residents packed last week’s meeting organized by Ford’s office expressing fear and concern over frequent police and paramedic calls to the address and taking issue with centre staff parking on the street.

“This is not a place for mental people. This is a residential area. Why don’t you build a house out on a farm?” one man said.

“What do I say to my three kids under the age of seven when one of these kids freaks out?” asked one woman, who declined to give her name. “When my child says, ‘Mommy, why are there police here again?’ What do I say?”

David Melgarejo lives next door.

“The solution is for them to move out. Locate the facility in another place. This is a community for people, not for that. I have nothing against the kids. If the kids need help, they need help,” Melgarejo said in an interview.

Deanna Dannell, Griffin Centre’s director of youth and family support services, told The Guardian Wednesday she and her colleagues were “taken aback” at the meeting by the angry, outraged reaction of residents and “disappointed” by Ford’s comments and handling of the meeting.

Griffin Centre staff had “a number” of communications with Ford before the home opened to explain “who we are, what we do and who we support,” she said.

“We were hoping (Ford) would be able to negotiate a different position in that meeting to provide a forum for the community to speak and for us to be able to respond so we could address some of those folks concerns. That didn’t happen,” she said.

Within 10 minutes, residents interrupted Dannell’s presentation, after which the meeting devolved into angry outbursts and accusations. Midway through the hour-long meeting, Ford said: “You may not like this. You can call The Toronto Star. But I need you to leave my community.”

Social media lit up over the weekend ignited by the controversy as community members, politicians, and mental health agencies condemned Ford and some of the residents for their remarks in the public meeting.

Many tweets used the words “appalling”, “disgusting” or “ignorant” in reaction to Ford’s comments.

One man, 29, who said he has Asperger’s, left an outraged comment on The Etobicoke Guardian’s Facebook page.

“The ignorance of Doug Ford and some of the people at the meeting is disgusting. We are not just animals that are out to destroy the ‘normalcy’ of the world. We want a chance too. But with comments like those at the meeting, we get held back a little bit more,” wrote Andrew Hersh, noting he has a BA and is searching for a job.

Former Liberal MP and Ontario NDP premier Bob Rae was among those who sharply criticized Ford on Saturday.

“This is the opposite of leadership on mental health,” Rae wrote on Twitter. “Doug Ford should be ashamed of himself — hurting not helping.”

Last weekend, Griffin Centre staff were inundated with media calls for comment, calls and emails of support from the public, as well as donations.

“It has been amazing for us as an agency to see the positive responses not just around that program, but for individuals who need somebody to be their voice, those with autism and developmental disabilities,” Dannell said.

Dannell reiterated that police calls to the address have been more frequent than usual, saying the special needs-youth face transitional stress and challenges in their ability to manage different and new situations.

“Moving has certainly increased the stress of some of our clients,” she said. “All the emergency services calls were made in the context of lending support and safety to our program. Understand these are mental health issues. Calls are made with respect to further supporting issues around mental health.”

Dannell had explained at the meeting the calls to police or paramedics are to support the youth facing a mental health issue. Youth are not criminals, as one man asked, nor are they sex offenders, as Ford asked.

Since the meeting, the centre has been preparing a fact sheet to distribute to neighbours that includes how to contact the Griffin Centre with any concerns, Dannell said.

The community will also be invited to an open house, she said.

“We would like to see an opportunity to start to develop a relationship with that community. To us, that is really what is most important,” Dannell said. “It is about that program, those kids, their home and the neighbours.”

Griffin Centre has “good relationships” with its neighbours in four other communities in the city and in Richmond Hill, she said.

“We’ve had great experiences. Our neighbours at our other programs have been great, amazing,” Dannell said. “Certainly, we understand there is that initial anxiety. That’s why we work hard to have our youth become active members in those communities. That’s why I’m hopeful with Jeffcoat.”